Census Caravan reminding Houston residents to complete census

Local leaders in Houston using new methods to get residents to complete 2020 census

FOX 26's Chelsea Edwards explains how local leaders are trying something new to get residents to complete the 2020 census.

HOUSTON - The deadline to complete the 2020 census has been extended to October, but Houston is falling behind in participation. Now, local leaders are hoping to boost counts during the pandemic. 

With no national holiday drawing people to the streets, decorated cars, trucks, and makeshift floats exited the parking lot of the Fifth Ward Multi-Service Center for Houston's first 2020 Census Caravan.

“The census is about saying you are valued, but more importantly it is about returning to you the dollars you need for the educating of our children, for the many senior citizens that are here, social security, Medicare, for improving the environment, for providing city services that the mayor so eagerly wants for this community,” says Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee. “The census is about life and quality of life,” she adds.

More than 100 vehicles paraded through the Fifth Ward community Saturday morning where participation so far has been low, but the need for federal funding remains high.

“It’s about having the dollars that we need to combat a pandemic like the one we’re in now,” says Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “Every single living person, whether that person is one day old or 100 days old, it’s important for them to respond to the census.”

RELATED: Majority of Houstonians have not filled out the U.S. Census despite easy online option

In-person interviews are restarting in several other states, but in Houston, increasing COVID-19 numbers have limited workers to dropping off reminders for those who have not responded while pushing for participation in online, phone, or mail-in surveys.

However, beyond Fifth Ward, Houston as a whole is falling behind, making Business Insiders’ list of cities (more than 100,000 residents) with the lowest self-response rates. Houston lands at number 39 with 52.8 percent, a little more than half of the population completing the census as of July 13.

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“If you want your teachers to look like the students they teach, fill out that census form,” says Rebecca Briscoe, Partnership Coordinator at the Department of Commerce. “If you want more police officers to look like the community they patrol, fill out that census form, and if you want the fourth largest city to turn into the third, fill out that census!”

Census takers say although personal outreach has been on hold, they plan to continue packet drop-offs by the end of July.

They're hoping Houston’s first census caravan boosts numbers for the historic Fifth Ward neighborhood and say more parades for other Houston areas are on the way.

To fill out the census, click here.